La Nuevo Mercenaria
by AcetheAlien
Summary: The life of Elena Ramirez wasn't exactly normal, even before she became a mercenary. When she and her father are attacked by mysterious thugs, compelling her to take her father's place as the 10th mercenary of the RED team, she's going to discover more about cooperating as a team, her family, and herself than she could ever expect.
1. The Spy Who Came to Supper

**Before you start reading the story I'd really appreciate it if you read these few beginning notes.**

**I'm very new at this. This is the first fanfiction I'm writing, so I'm a little self-conscious about it and the way I write. I've had an idea of writing a Team Fortress 2 fanfiction for almost a year now about a Spanish (Not Mexican) mercenary. Why Spanish? I don't know, it may or may not have to do with a Spanish class I took last year. Eventually I started thinking of a back story for Elena (who hopefully isn't a Mary Sue. It wasn't my intention) and how she tied in to the main story, and then it just snowballed into... this. She was supposed to speak more than just basic Spanish in this first chapter, but the idea's almost a year old now, I'm not in Spanish anymore, and everything I learned last year pretty much went out the window.**

**Also if I offend anyone with my lack of Spanish knowledge, I am so sorry. That really wasn't my intention. **

**Anyway, my writing style is a little weird from my perspective, but still, enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Team Fortress 2 and its characters do not belong to me. **

* * *

_Madrid, Spain. October 1969._

Her day was getting weird the moment her father called her, inviting her over to the villa that evening. He didn't tell her what for, which only made her feel uneasy.

Elena Ramirez was just about to pack her things and leave the lab to head over there when Enrique, one of the scientists stopped her, likely to inform her that the results from her recent test were complete.

She was eager to hear the news. Her dark brown eyes implored him to give her the details, but then she remembered she had to be somewhere at the moment and had to leave. Elena shook her head. "Actually, just give me the notes. I'll look over them on the way home."

"Miss Ramirez, it's raining outside. The notes will get too soggy for you to read by the time you get home. Besides, it's news that I'm sure you've been waiting to hear for quite some time. I'll try to make it quick."

Now her interest really was piqued. "Really, Enrique? Do tell."

"So we've been working on a toxin that the subject won't build up a natural immunity towards."

Elena nodded.

"Well recently, we've tested on mice and after curing them with the vaccine you gave us multiple times, we haven't observed any resistance toward the poison's effects."

"Ah! ¡_Muy Bueno_!" This was very good news for Elena. She couldn't help but jump.

Enrique chuckled at her short burst of joy. "You seem very happy. Either way, it appears your mother's notes were correct after all, Miss Ramirez." He gave her the files. "Now what do you say we go get some coffee to celebrate your big achievement?"

She inwardly groaned, then shook her head. "Enrique, I have to head over to my father's place. I'm sure he expects me as soon as possible. Plus, I have to head back to my place to pick up a few things, so I really can't get coffee with you now."

Enrique frowned. Elena couldn't tell if he was disappointed or not. "Well, how about tomorrow?"

She knew he was going to persist, especially after working with him for several years. As she was making her way to the door, Elena finally gave her answer. "Alright, I suppose that will work." She said, trying to smile politely. "Now, I really should be going."

Enrique gave a small wave goodbye. "_Hasta mañana_, Elena."

"_Hasta mañana." _She closed the door.

•●•

As soon as Elena stepped outside, she immediately wished she had brought an umbrella. It was nearly pouring.

_At least my apartment isn't too far away. _She thought to herself. It only took around seven minutes to get there if she hurried. And she was in a bit of a hurry. Good thing there weren't a lot of people walking around in the streets in this part of town. Not that it wasn't run down or creepy or old, mostly just unpopulated.

Elena really wished Enrique would stop being so nice to her. He couldn't make it any more obvious, she knew exactly what he was trying to do. Enrique wanted to court her. But she didn't want that to happen, she couldn't _let _it happen. Not to mention she just didn't have any romantic interest in him.

She checked her bag to make sure it was closed tight. Fortunately it was, and Elena continued walking. She wasn't particularly concerned for the data Enrique compiled, but more for the fragile vials inside the bag. In those vials contained a deadly poison that when absorbed through the blood stream, caused death that was just about immediate, at least to a weak, frail subject. Elena didn't know what would happen if the toxin was exposed to rainwater, but she wasn't about to find out herself. Or if the vials broke and the toxin got all over the inside of her bag… actually, the results wouldn't be catastrophic, but she would probably have to make sure her notes were fine, and then burn the bag later, just to be on the safe side. As far as she knew, the poison didn't have any special reaction to fire.

Those toxins were a result of her mother's work, a clever chemist, Angela Ramirez. Several years ago, when Elena was about five years old, an unknown organization commissioned Angela to create a toxin that was generally harmless when exposed to skin, but deadly if it got into the blood stream. Their reasons were unknown, possibly for war purposes though it seemed a little dark even for that. As the months dragged on, filled with hours of research, testing, notes, and compiled data, Angela finally found the recipe for catastrophe. She refused to tell anyone the secret, however, and her notes were hard to decipher. Only very few trusted scientists knew about the project in general, and even then they were sworn to secrecy. Angela was _that _serious about keeping it from falling into the wrong hands.

That was only the first prototype, however. The final product had yet to be finished. But before Angela could see her chemical's creation, something tragic occurred when Elena had just turned 10 years old. Something that caused her father to never be the same again. Something that Elena dreaded to think about. Her fist tightened for a brief moment.

Angela's work didn't die with her. It would be a disgrace to the Ramirez family honor. When Elena came of age, it was clear she demonstrated the same knowledge in chemistry as her mother. So she took up the project, trying to perfect the chemical and have it reach its most deadly potential… And now she finally did it. After all these years of hard work and certainly frustrating… frustration, she finally completed the project her mother worked so hard to try to finish. Would she be proud of her daughter? Elena hoped so.

After about eight minutes of pondering about her recent achievement and even occasional memories of her mother that Elena tried to push out of her head, she reached the door of her apartment. Pulling out her key, she unlocked and opened the door.

Her apartment was a little on the older side, but it was quaint, homey, and had an antique style that Elena took delight in. Plus, it had a basement that was polished up as best as possible so it could be used as a lab for her to practice chemistry. If she didn't have her license, she would feel like she was doing something illegal and still occasionally worried if she still would be. The smell of all the strange chemicals was slightly unnerving to her now that she actually had something extremely deadly. Carefully taking the toxins out of her bag, she began to fashion a few poison darts, loading them into holsters. It was apparently a minor part of plan her mother was commissioned to do, much easier than making the poison by far. And just for kicks and giggles, she decided to put one of the holsters on her right wrist.

Suddenly, Elena heard something behind her skitter by. Probably a rat or mouse- she had noticed them getting into her house more frequently each day which made her wonder if it was an infestation. Turning around to see that it actually was a mouse, Elena almost jumped in surprise, but still launched a dart at the mouse from 7 feet away.

A direct hit.

A few seconds passed. Then the mouse started spazzing out, as if it was having a seizure. If mice could cough or gag or choke, Elena guessed that the mouse was doing it right now. She watched as the mouse slowly tried to escape back into the hole it came from, but it was as if the mouse had forgotten how to move its own feet. Then it stopped moving. She would've felt guilty, but her house was practically infested with the vermin and this was at least one step closer to solving the problem.

Elena checked the time. She didn't want to keep her father waiting. She locked the holster (so it wouldn't accidently launch any darts), slipped on a jacket, and made sure to lock everything in her house before she left.

•●•

Elena called for a taxi. There was no way she was going to _walk_ to her father's house. It would take way too long. Mr. Ramirez lived just outside the city. Finding some other faster way to get there was much easier.

Elena hopped in the back seat of the car. Once she told the driver where to go, he immediately figured out who she was.

"Off to see your father today, Elena?" the taxi driver asked her.

Elena just nodded. "He just told me to drop by after I finished working. But… I don't know what he wants." _Hopefully it's not just to yell at me for who knows what. _

"Maybe it has something to do with your last bullfighting match. You were flawless as always. He may want to congratulate you or a job well done." Everyone in the city knew Elena was a professional bullfighter. It ran in the family. Even tourists far and wide would come to the arena to watch the Ramirez family put on a show. What everyone didn't know, however, was that it was also used as a cover-up for their… other profession.

"My last match was over a month ago. If he wanted to congratulate me, he would've done it sooner. Besides, he doesn't congratulate me. He already knows how well I do." Elena smirked. The driver must have seen it from the rear view mirror, as she heard a "Heh," from him.

They talked the rest of the way about bullfighting. Much to Elena's surprise he didn't mention "the accident," something she dreaded talking about to others. But he seemed easy to talk to, she felt a little disappointed when they pulled up to her father's house.

_"Muchas gracias, señor_." Elena made sure to pay him extra. He nodded, not really noticing how much she even paid him. From the corner of her eye, she thought she saw him waving. Some taxi drivers just weren't as easy to talk to or get along with as others.

She walked up to the door and took a deep breath. There wasn't any bother knocking, since she once lived here anyway. When she opened the door, she noticed that the lights were turned off, everything was quiet. It was as if no one was home. But then why would her father tell her to come here? He wasn't one for practical jokes.

Elena wandered around. She couldn't help but feel this was a little too eerie. "H-hello…? Is anyone here…? Papá, are you home…?" She tried a few rooms; the library was filled with books and she noticed the smell of smoke from the fireplace. Someone was here recently, probably her father, but they weren't here now. She checked the study; there were notes and papers all over the desk from when Elena was here last time. No one must have bothered to clean up her things, but she still found nothing.

She wasn't expecting anyone to be in the next room she decided to check; mostly she was just visiting for old time's sake- her bedroom. It hadn't been used since she moved out, and everything was gone, save for her bed, a nightstand with a lamp, and a few old family pictures. She picked up the single picture on the nightstand, a photo of herself and her mom and dad from almost 11 years ago. Mr. Ramirez had his arm around Angela's shoulder and a little 9-year old Elena stood in front of them. The three of them looked so happy, smiling and laughing together. A single teardrop fell on the picture. Elena clearly remembered that day several years ago. The photo was taken on her tenth birthday, one of the last times she could remember her life being normal. Her mind wandered off to more happier memories with her family: she remembered dancing for her parents when she was 8, throwing a rotten tomato in her mother's face during _Tomatina _when she was 6, and the three of them curled up in the very bed in front of her, reading a story to her and then tucking her in as they were about to say good-night…

She was ripped out of her world of reminiscence when she suddenly heard a booming laugh that could be heard throughout the house. Someone actually was here.

When she got to the kitchen and dining room, she heard the noises again. A small flicker of light was beaming through the door. As she got closer, there was no doubt in Elena's mind that it was people talking. One definitely sounded like her father. But there was also another person in the room, so her father wasn't alone. She crept closer and put her ear against the door, trying to listen to the conversation her father and this other individual were having. She heard her father asking a question, but she couldn't make out exactly what he was trying to say. As Elena listened to the reply of the other person, she noticed he had a French accent. If it really was who Elena was thinking, she wasn't exactly sure why _he _was here. But she couldn't confirm it really was who she was thinking of. She noticed the conversation getting more and more tense. Was someone trying to blackmail her father? Then she heard someone shout "No!" as they slammed the table. Elena wouldn't allow it. She flung the door open…

…Only to find her father playing cards with someone else.

"Ha! I told you 34 times already, Pedro, you cannot beat me at this game."

Her father frowned. "I guess you're right. I should have stopped trying after the 17th time." He sighed.

A few moments passed when they both turned their attention to Elena and the stunned look she had her face. She glanced at her father for a moment, and then focused on the other man. He was wearing a red suit and tie. But even more peculiar was the red ski mask he had covering his face. And although she was standing more than 7 feet away from him, she could smell cigarette smoke on him.

Most daughters would still be surprised if they found their father playing cards with a strange man wearing a ski mask. But not Elena. She knew who this man was. Snapping out of her initial shock, she ran over to the RED Spy and tackled him in a hug.

"_¡Señor Tío!_" Elena shouted, using the name she gave him when she was little. "I haven't seen you in ages!"

The two men chuckled at her sudden burst of energy. "Surprised to see me, aren't you Elena?" The spy said as Elena tried to regain her composure.

"Ay, sí. Very much… if you couldn't already tell." She nodded. "Papá, this isn't the reason you told me to come, is it?"

Her father shook his head. "Actually, it's something different. But… it can wait until after dinner, which you just so happen to be in time for."

•●•

The conversation at the dinner table was as lively as it could be for three people. Elena and the RED Spy were wrapped in a conversation, mostly about what he does as a spy. Elena found his work interesting and somewhat exciting and asked him to tell her as much as he could. Much to her surprise, he actually did tell her about what he had been recently, although he wouldn't give her any classified information.

Pedro and the RED Spy had been friends for as long as Elena could remember, at least that's what she assumed though. On some occasions he would bring top secret materials for Angela to use for her important chemistry projects. At other times he would drop by when he wasn't working just to say hello to the Ramirez family.

There was silence as the three of them were eating when Elena popped the main question. "So _señor_, what exactly_ are_ you doing here? I really wasn't expecting you to be here."

The Spy looked at her. "And why would that be, hmm?"

Elena looked away, "Well… it's just, you've ceased communication with us for around a year now, I guess because it has to do with your… most recent mission. And then, all of a sudden… Surprise! You're here."

She turned to her father. "Papá, weren't you surprised when he showed up?"

Pedro stroked his chin. "I guess I was at first. But then he filled me in on what he came for."

Her father didn't seem to have much emotion in his face. Then again, he rarely ever showed much emotion, something Elena unfortunately picked up on. But the facial expressions were different now. He seemed almost… exhausted. Elena wondered what happened before she showed up.

She munched on a churro. "So what did he come for?"

Pedro grimaced. "Elena, this isn't really the easiest thing to talk about…"

Her heart started pounding. "Wait. What thing? What's going on?"

"Don't waste yourself on the details, my daughter."

"What details? What aren't you telling me?"

Her father raised his voice. "I haven't told you anything yet."

They were about to get into an argument when the Spy intervened. "Maybe it's best if we just tell her."

Pedro sighed. "Ay, very well… but you do the explaining."

The Spy stood out of his seat. "Elena… recently I've been working as a mercenary."

"A mercenary? You've been fighting…? For money?"

"Well yes, that is what mercenaries do. I've been working with 8 other comrades and we've been fighting to take our opponents' land." The Spy said to her.

"You make it sound like some sort of joke." Elena remarked.

"Believe me, you have no idea." He muttered to himself.

Her father spoke up. "Recently the team has been considering hiring a Tenth mercenary to get the upper hand…"

"…And I've decided to take it upon myself to find this mercenary." The Spy continued.

The pieces were starting to come together in Elena's mind. And she dreaded to think about the reason why the Spy was here.

"So… are you asking my father to help you find suitable… mercenaries?"

There was a sad look in both their eyes. Finally the Spy shook his head. "No Elena. Your father_ is_ the mercenary."

Elena was stunned for a moment. The only thing she could utter was, "Wha-what?"

The Spy held a top secret file. "Your father's name shows up in the list of candidates. And since I've seen his skills firsthand, I know he is the one we're looking for."

"S-so then…"

"I had to tell you this sooner rather than later, chica." Her father said. "I've accepted the job and will be going to America as the tenth mercenary."

Elena tried to hide the fact that there were tears welling up in her eyes. "B-but… when do you leave?"

"As soon as I get my things packed together. And as soon as I say good-bye to my daughter."

She wiped the tears from her eyes.

"_Lo siento_, Elena, but I cannot tarnish the Ramirez name." For once, her father looked genuinely sad. Not because of the family name which he was obsessed with, but because of the fact that he was leaving his daughter.

"I'll leave you to it." The Spy walked away. Elena noticed him pulling out a cigarette. He was going out to the porch to smoke. Of course he would.

•●•

"B-but you're leaving? Just like that? Why…? Why are you doing this Papá?" Elena kept badgering him for answers as she followed him to his room. They weren't particularly close as a father and daughter, but she thought it was ridiculous for him to take a mercenary job out of the blue.

"I cannot let anything happen to Ramirez family name in any way, shape, or form."

"And there you go again about the 'Ramirez family name.' Don't you ever give it a rest?"

"You're just as guilty as I am when it comes to taking pride in that matter."

Elena groaned. He got her there. She took pride in her name as much he did. "But what does mercenary work in western America have to do with our family name?"

His voice became dangerously exasperating. "More than you know, Elena."

They were both silent until they got to Pedro's room, when she started questioning him again. "But what sort of experience do you have in this line of work? There's no way you're serious about doing this!"

"I've fought bulls before, it can't be any different!"

"Yes it is! You're fighting _people_, of all things! They're smarter, they have weapons and they'll stop at nothing to kill you!" All of a sudden in her frustration, she accidentally bumped the holster lock and a poison dart flew into the wooden floor.

Pedro walked over and picked it up. His voice was calmer, but still dangerous. "What is this, Elena?"

Elena grabbed her wrist, making sure the holster stayed locked this time. "N-nothing. Wait! Don't you dare prick your finger on that dart."

He looked at her seriously. "So, you finally completed your mother's work, didn't you?"

She could only nod.

He let out a "Hmph!" "If you're trying to scare me out of it, Elena, you'll have to try harder. My mind's made up and there's nothing you can do to stop me."

She couldn't stop the tears from falling down her face. "What!? Are you loco? You're going to _die_ out there! I already lost Mamá! Now I'm going to lose you too? I don't want that to happen! I… I don't…"

He raised his voice even more. "You don't _what _to happen?"

"I… I…" Elena lowered her head. "I don't want to lose you like I did with mother…" she choked out a sob.

His expression softened. "Elena…"

_**CRASH!**_

Two people jumped in the room through the window. One fired a gun at Pedro. The other grabbed Elena.

•●•

Meanwhile, just outside the Ramirez's house, the Spy was looking through a Mann Co. Catalog as he overheard Pedro and Elena's argument.

"Well they certainly know how to say their good-byes." He said to himself. He flipped through a few more pages of the magazine when he suddenly heard a nearby gunshot and Pedro letting out a loud "oof" coming from inside the house. Gasping in surprise, the RED Spy flung the catalogue away and ran inside.

•●•

_Señor Tío, I hope you haven't left… or that you're not deaf. _Elena thought as if the Spy could actually hear her mental plea. Her father was lying on the floor slipping into unconscious, and possibly even dying, but she hoped it was the former rather than the latter. One of the goons had their arm wrapped around Elena's neck with a gun pointed at her while the other guarded the door.

Her heart was pounding out of her chest. "Alright missy…" the first goon said, bringing the gun closer. "Be a good girl, now. Tell us where that poison is and no one gets hurt."

_You already hurt my father!_ Elena wanted to say, but she didn't want to take the risk of potentially getting shot. "I… I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Don't play dumb with us! You know exactly what we're talking about. You don't want us to take drastic measures now do you… Miss Ramirez?" He gestured for the goon guarding the door and he pointed his gun at her wounded father. He groaned in pain.

So they knew who she was. That was creepy.

The thug holding Elena put his finger on the trigger. "Well…?"

"I won't… tell you anything." She choked out.

"So… you'd rather die than tell us what you know. Well we have ways of making you talk." Thug #2's finger inched closer to the trigger of his gun. He was going to finish off what little life her father had left.

"N-no…" Elena whispered.

Then the door opened. Elena and the goons looked over to see that the door had been opened by… no one?

Thug #1 shrugged. "Hmph… probably just the wind."

The other thug kept his pointed at Pedro. "I guess but… do you feel any wind any-WAAAGH!" A knife was plunged into his back as the thug collapsed to the floor.

Then the RED Spy appeared with his revolver pointed at the thug holding Elena.

"Let the girl go and you won't end up like your friend right here."

"Heh… here to save the damsel in distress? Not on my watch." Before the goon could even take the time to think, he aimed the gun at the Spy, giving Elena a golden opportunity to expose his big mistake.

She plunged her elbow into his gut, knocking the wind out of him as he staggered backwards and making him drop his gun but, most importantly, freeing Elena. The Spy must not have been expecting her to fight back, as he watched Elena grab the thug's gun in midair.

For Elena, everything seemed to happening in slow motion. As she grabbed the gun, her mind rapidly started working. She still wasn't safe yet. She had to defend herself. Elena felt a surge of adrenaline, the same kind she felt when fighting a bull, as she pointed the gun at the thug and fired at his chest.

The thug fell on the ground, hugging his chest in pain. Elena ran to her father.

"Father! Stay with me! Please, don't die!" she pleaded, cradling his barely living body. Thinking she heard sirens, she looked out the window to see the paramedics running inside the house. They laid Pedro's body on a stretcher and carried him out.

The bodies of the goons were already cold. The Spy was talking to some police officers who arrived on the scene after the paramedics. He explained to them what happened to Pedro and Elena and how the thugs had attacked them. The police examined the two now-dead bodies and Elena and the Spy were asked to leave the room for the time being.

It wasn't until 10:00 at night when the officers left the Ramirez house. Elena and the Spy sat at the dinner table, waiting while everything was being worked out. Everything was quiet and after quite an eventful evening, they enjoyed the silence. Though Elena was still in shock from what happened.

Elena paused for a moment. She just remembered that she had shot a man, killing him. This should have messed with her conscience, but the surge of adrenaline had taken over her. It wasn't like accidentally killing a bull during a bullfight, which she had actually done before. She tried to convince herself that she was just trying to defend herself, and while it helped a small amount, Elena wouldn't deny that she was much more concerned about her father. But still... she didn't feel as traumatized as she felt she should be.

"I hope Papá's alright..." she said quietly.

"The doctors are doing everything they can to help him. Where he was shot should have killed him immediately." The Spy replied.

"So it's a miracle he managed to survive that long…" Elena muttered.

"Now, now Elena." He said, trying to comfort her. "The doctors got to him in time and they haven't told me that he's dead. Besides…" The Spy looked at her. "Knowing your father, I'm sure he'll pull through."

She thought for a moment. "_Gracias, Señor Tío._" Elena forced a small smile. She noticed the mercenary files were still on the table.

"By the way, you had me surprised for a moment when you fought back. I didn't know you could fire a gun with such precision."

"I didn't know either…" Elena didn't handle firearms very often. But she had practiced and knew how to use one. "But, I don't think father will be well enough to fight on the battlefield."

The Spy shook his head slowly. "No… it will take quite some time until he recovers."

"Oh…" Now that her father was out of commission and in recovery, he couldn't take the mercenary job. "What are you going to do now?"

"At this moment, I don't know yet."

Without thinking, she pulled the files over to her, but stopped herself before she opened the cover. Taking off the jacket she used to hide the poison darts, she touched the holster.

_I cannot let anything happen to Ramirez family name in any way, shape, or form._ The words of her father played through her mind.

_And I won't either._

A crazy thought flashed in Elena's mind. She'd have to be even more loco than her father just to imagine it. But she was quick and clever. She could fight bulls and use a gun. And it would give her a chance to put her poison darts to the test…

"What if I went in my father's place?"

Elena was half-expecting the Spy to laugh or tell her that she was insane. But his expression didn't change. Instead, he considered her idea.

"Normally, I'd say it is too dangerous for you. However, after what happened tonight, I've seen what you're capable of doing. Your parent's blood runs in your veins. You have potential. But… are you sure you know what you're doing?"

Elena took a dart out of the holster and started twirling it gingerly, yet with confidence. She stared straight into the Spy's eyes with a determined look on her face. "It's my duty to keep the family honor as well as my father. He set his mind to start something, now I have to finish it. Besides…" she smirked. "Today I completed my mother's project. Maybe it's for this very reason that I managed to finish it."

* * *

**And there's the first chapter. I started it last month, then stopped, then started working on it again a month later. So if the writing style suddenly changed in the middle of the story, that's probably why. Most of it's just explaining stuff so it might be a little boring and maybe even obvious, but things should pick up over the next few chapters or less. If it took that long just to write one chapter, who knows how long it will take me to write the next. **

**Anyway, I had thought of a class name for Elena but then I started wondering if it would be a good one. Well, the Afflictor sounded like it would work for the job she would be doing (not to mention I can make nicknames out of that name), but it just doesn't seem...right. Feel free to share ideas if you have any.**

**If the characters (or the story) seem a little... off, it most likely might be because of my lack of writing experience. I apologize for that. I mean, the character's personalities being weird, not the writing experience.**

**...Also, I'm not really THAT lacking in self confidence... If you were thinking that... I'd better stop typing before I end up just confusing you. **

**Leave a review if you'd like. I'd appreciate it!**


	2. Preparations

**Wow, that was faster than I expected. But I'm pretty sure it's just luck. There's no way this is happening a second time.**

**A couple of things I feel I should, or at least would like to clarify on. First, the holsters that Elena wears aren't gun holsters, they're spring loaded holsters meant more for darts. Second, the nickname Elena has for the Spy was one she gave to him when she was little, which is why it's a little awkward I guess. But I haven't completely forgotten my Spanish. Third, it came to my attention that people in Spain probably don't speak English very fluently. But if I made them speak Spanish, nobody except myself and people who know Spanish would understand, so just go with it.**

**...Anyway, here's chapter 2. It's much shorter than the last one, which was like a combination between a prologue and the first chapter. Characters may still be a little off, but I'm trying.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

That night Elena had a dream that a bunch of thugs were threatening her to tell them how many mice she exterminated with her poison darts.

Her eyes fluttered open and for a brief moment she was confused about where she woke up. Why was she in her old room at the villa? Then it all came back to her. Spy came to visit. Father was taking a mercenary job. Father got attacked by thugs and was injured. Spy came to the rescue. Elena decided to take the job instead. And so in a paranoid state that she would be attacked by more thugs along the way, Elena was too shook up and exhausted to head back to her own apartment and stayed at the villa that night. What a crazy night. Or was it a dream? No wait, it really did happen.

The Spy didn't object to Elena's proposal not to return home and even chose to stay in one of the guest rooms instead of going to the hotel he was supposed to stay in. After what had happened neither of them was in any mood to go anywhere and just wanted to get some sleep. They were going to have a long day ahead of them today.

Crawling out of bed, Elena stretched and opened the closet to find an extra set of clothes to change into. But since everything she had was at her apartment, the closet was empty. So instead she went to the master bedroom, where the attack took place, and picked out some clothes that her mother used to wear. Even after almost 11 years, her father didn't have the heart to get rid of them or just about anything else Angela owned. Surprisingly, the clothes fit, even the pants. Strapping the dart holster back on to her wrist, Elena went downstairs.

When she got to the kitchen, she noticed the Spy was already there, reading the newspaper while drinking a cup of coffee. He glanced up at Elena to see that she was taking a carton of eggs out of the refrigerator once she turned the stove on.

She turned her head toward him. "I'm just going to guess that you haven't had anything yet today."

The Spy set the paper down. "You guessed correctly."

Elena quickly fixed some scrambled eggs and a piece of toast for each of them. "Well, I'm not exactly the best cook so… don't complain about it tasting bad."

He muttered something that Elena couldn't exactly make out. Something about it at least tasting better than anything that anyone could make at… Teufort was it? As they were eating, the Spy went over the plans for the day. First, they would head to Elena's place so she could pack a few things. Then they would visit Mr. Ramirez at the hospital before they had to catch their flight to New Mexico at 2:20.

When they went out to the garage, Elena noticed a sleek, red sports car that definitely belonged to the Spy. It was so stunning it made her father's Mercedes Benz, which was parked next to it, look old and run down. She opened the garage door while the Spy pulled his car out. Once Elena closed the garage door, she got in the car and they were off.

"_Señor Tío_, do you know where to go? Or do I have to give you directions?" she asked him.

The Spy took his cigarette out of his mouth. "No, I think I have a general idea."

Elena coughed, waving the smoke away from her face. She couldn't stand the smell of cigarette smoke. She had known the Spy for several years and had to put up with the smell whenever she saw him. Even now she still couldn't handle it and would make it known to him.

Not many words were said during the car ride. Elena had many questions to ask the Spy about her new job and what she would be doing. It was true she was worried and nervous, but she pushed those feelings out of her thoughts. She had to have a clear mind if this was going to work out. Elena didn't know what these other 8 mercenaries would be like, but she was sure they didn't want a scared young woman on their team, even if said woman was a professional bullfighter.

The Spy took another puff from his cigarette as he pulled his car next to Elena's apartment.

Elena, lost in her thoughts, didn't notice that Spy had stopped driving. How would these teammates treat her? Would they accept her, or would they look down on her?

"Elena."

Would they see her as part of the team, or would they do everything they could to make her quit?

"Elena."

Even worse, would they think of her as just a pretty face and possibly even try to- no! She was not about to let _any _of those things happen.

"Elena!" The Spy nudged her shoulder.

"Huh?" she jumped.

He looked out the car window. "This is where you live, no?"

"Y-yeah… I was just… Hmph! I was just surprised you knew where to go." She said with a slight sarcastic tone. With that, she got out of the car and walked up the steps to her home.

•●•

Elena didn't know how much time she had to pack her things, so she tried to be as quick as possible. Grabbing a suitcase from her room, she pulled out three sets of clothes (one a little nicer than the other two, more for business purposes, she wanted to be prepared), an extra pair of shoes, and a toiletry bag (because she still wanted to be prepared for the worst) and packed them in the suitcase.

Those were the essentials, and she still had some extra space in her suitcase. So she found her mother's diaries as well as her own and her flamenco fans. Elena didn't know why she wanted to take the fans, but she felt compelled. She also got out an old pendant, with handcrafted beads and a dark-green stone in the center. Her father gave it to her as a gift when she was 16, saying it was an old Ramirez heirloom that was passed down from each generation. She treasured the necklace, wearing it almost all the time, even during bullfighting matches, and it eventually became a good luck charm. Elena tied it around her neck and hoped some of its good luck would help in this new line of work.

There were still a few more things she wasn't about to leave behind. Heading down to her basement/laboratory, she was relieved to see everything was the same way it had been yesterday. Elena put together a kit so she could make more poison darts and put both the spring-loaded holster on her wrist and the one she left here in the case. As she was closing the case, she heard a voice.

"Trying to put on a brave face, aren't you Elena?"

She turned around to see the Spy standing in front of the door way.

"Maybe." She muttered, thinking back to why she made that snide comment toward him.

The Spy looked around, observing the strange vials in the room until he saw a dead mouse on the floor with a dart in its body. "I'd bring those poison darts you were working on if I were you."

"Already have that covered." She said, slinging the bag with the data notes over her shoulder. "I have one more thing I want to get before we go."

Back on the main floor of her house, Elena opened a closet and brought out yet another case. In the case was a slender, pale-green revolver with an even darker green grip. An intricate Spanish pattern was engraved on the barrel. On some occasions, she would accompany her father (and sometimes Spy as well if he was in the area) when he went target shooting. Elena rarely ever participated at first, mostly because she didn't have a very good aim. When she got this revolver, it was a perfect fit for Elena and she started practicing more until she became a precise and accurate shooter.

"Would it be alright if I brought this with me, _Señor Tío_?"

The Spy closed his eyes and thought for a moment. "I don't see why not."

She held back her urge to jump in happiness. Instead she just nodded and gave a small smile. "Thank you." Elena closed the case and got all her things put together.

Before they got out the door, Elena stopped to realize there was one last thing she had to do before they left. "Wait."

Spy turned around. "Forgetting something?" he asked with a hint of impatience.

Elena nodded. She dashed to the counter, rummaging through her drawers until she found a piece of paper and a pen and quickly started writing.

"There's this guy who wanted to get coffee with me today. But since I'm leaving, I won't be able to. I should probably tell him I'll be gone for… some time. Would it be suspicious if I told him I was going on a worldwide bullfighting tour?"

The Spy didn't show much interest, which Elena didn't mind. She was only doing this because it was polite. "As long as you don't tell this person what you're _actually _doing."

"I don't think he'd believe that either." Finished with her note, Elena took her things outside and taped the note onto her door while the Spy put everything in the back of his car.

As she hopped back in the car, she looked back at her house one last time. "I really wasn't looking forward to having coffee with him anyway." She said to herself.

•●•

"Mr. Ramirez isn't taking visitors at the time, Miss. His condition is still critical and he needs to sleep." The woman at the desk told Elena. The Spy sat in the waiting area reading some sort of catalog while Elena was talking to the receptionist.

"I understand but… I really need to see him. This is the only time I can. I'll be as quiet as possible." Elena didn't know when she would get another chance to see her father again.

The receptionist raised an eyebrow. "Are you related to Mr. Ramirez in any way?"

"I'm his daughter."

"Oh…" the receptionist whispered. She must have known what had happened to her father, as her eyes seemed to tell Elena how sorry she was. But the woman's expression quickly changed. "Room 120." She said. "And try not to disturb him."

"_Gracias_." Elena motioned for the Spy to follow her.

When they found room 120, Elena silently hoped that her father would be asleep. She didn't want to have to tell him what she was doing. She had no idea how he would react, if he would accept it or think her a fool. Elena slowly opened the door to find her father lying on a cot with his eyes closed. He was fortunately still asleep. There were bandages with a hint of red wrapped around his gun wound. Aside from light peeping through the window, the room was dark, with the sound of a machine quietly beeping. Elena stared at her father's injured body. She couldn't help but feel terrible for arguing with him and felt that this was her fault. Maybe things would be different if she had just let him go. But she couldn't change it now.

Elena took her father's hand and squeezed it. Her voice wavered as she whispered to him, "Adiós, Papá. I'll come back. I promise." She kissed his cheek and left the room.

The Spy didn't follow Elena stayed with Pedro a few more minutes. Elena wondered why he would need to stay longer than her, unless he was speaking to her father. As she waited for him just outside the room, the Spy finally closed the door.

"It's time, Elena."

•●•

"Did he say anything to you?" Elena asked the Spy as they were on their way to the airport. He didn't say a word so she decided to drop the subject. Elena could see the airport in the distance. Her body tensed as they were getting closer and closer. When they finally arrived, Elena was confused when the Spy drove past the parking lot and toward the takeoff area.

"Wait… aren't we supposed to check in instead of heading straight toward the planes?" she asked him.

"We're not taking any normal flight."

"But-" the Spy cut her off before she could finish.

"We're taking a jet."

"A jet!?"

He didn't seem at all surprised by her exclamation. "Is that a problem?"

"No…" Elena said. "Not really." _Perks for being a spy I guess,_ she thought to herself. Elena didn't want to say that she was extremely prone to airsickness. But she didn't want the Spy to find out either if she were to suddenly throw up her breakfast.

Parking right next to the jet, the Spy got out of his car and started talking to the pilot. They were still early, but they were apparently the only passengers so they could leave when they were ready. And they were. Boarding the jet, Elena looked back at the city she called home. She was unsure when she would return, or _if_ she even would return at all. She didn't want to think about that.

A part of her couldn't believe she was actually doing this. The other part of her felt it had to be done. But once she stepped on that plane, she knew there was no turning back.

Taking her seat, Elena started searching for a doggy bag, not wanting to take any risks. Next to her, the Spy noticed her clutching it in her hand. "I don't think you'll be needing that." He said to her.

Elena could feel the jet engine starting. They both fastened their seat belts. "How do you know? We're about to take off, and takeoffs are always the worst." Elena shuddered as she tightly gripped the arm her seat.

"Don't underestimate this pilot's skills."

_Don't underestimate my airsickness, _she thought.

The jet began to speed up, preparing for take-off. Elena's stomach churned, she was about to lose her breakfast. But she couldn't, when she realized that it was just her nerves. A few minutes passed. She was just fine, and they were in the air, on the way to New Mexico. As she relaxed into her seat, she put the doggy away, since she wouldn't be needing it… at least not until the landing.

"_Señor Tío…_" Elena began, but then shook her head. She would have to discard that childhood nickname for the Spy from now on. Elena also reminded herself that she would have to be strong. And if she couldn't… maybe she could put on an act. That had to be better than being weak and afraid.

For Elena, the best way to start was to collect information. "Spy, something I've been meaning to ask- what exactly will I be doing in this… job? I should be as prepared as possible."

The Spy lit a cigarette and Elena inwardly groaned. The jet didn't have any rules about smoking. Another thing for her to take note of was that she would have to get used to that awful smell.

Pulling out some papers, the Spy started filling Elena in on everything.

* * *

**And there you have it. Next chapter, we're switching away from Elena's point of view... Because now we're getting to something much better- the other mercenaries' perspectives! Hooray!**

**I just realized that they might also be out of character too. Yay...? XD**

**Reviews are appreciated!**


	3. Meet the RED Team

**Well, it happened again. I posted another chapter. Maybe it's because I'm still on Christmas vacation... yeah, that's it. That's why I'm updating so consistently. Things will probably be different when I go back to school. So just a heads-up, updates might start slowing down next week.**

**After some thinking, I'm probably going to change the genre of the story a bit, if it matters a whole lot. I don't really know why, but I'm just not sure if it's dramatic enough. So... yeah. It won't be too big of a difference.**

**As for the chapter, here's an attempt at an action scene. Hopefully it's not boring and actually makes sense.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

_Badlands, New Mexico. October 1969. Current Location: Dustbowl-Stage 1_

_**ALERT! OUR CONTROL POINT IS BEING CAPTURED!**_

Wailing sirens and gunshots could be heard all over that morning as the sun rose over Dustbowl. A lone BLU Pyro stood on the point, dodging the bullets and rockets fired at him.

"C'mon! Are you maggots really going to let those BLU's take the point?" The RED Soldier shouted from the canyon. "The match _just_ _started_!" Pointing his rocket launcher toward the ground, he fired a rocket from beneath his feet, sending him flying. He fired another rocket into the building, knocking the BLU Pyro away from the point and blocking its capture.

"Stay away from my point, you mute cretin!" He was about to finish the Pyro when a red blur zoomed by, whacking the Pyro in the back of the head with a baseball bat. The Pyro collapsed on the ground, blood seeping from the mask.

"Oh yeah! 'Dats what I'm talking about!" The RED Scout bragged, looking down on the Pyro's dead body. "You shoulda said something if ya didn't want me to kill ya!"

"Scout! Quit being a show-off and get out of the way!" Soldier called to him.

"Wha-?" He turned to see a BLU Soldier firing a rocket at him. "Gah!" Scout jumped out of the way and started firing off his pistol as he sprinted back to the point. A BLU Demoman and Medic were making another attempt to capture it.

"Yo! Someone help me defend the point!" Scout fired his scattergun at the two BLUs, chipping away their health, though it wasn't enough as he was still outnumbered two to one. The Demoman launched two grenades but thanks to Scout's quick feet, he dodged them both with ease.

"Ha! You're gonna have to do better than dat!" Scout taunted.

"Oh I WILL, twinkle-toes." The Demoman fired another grenade, which the Scout dodged again, but now he was so pre-occupied that he didn't notice the BLU Soldier launching another rocket at him.

Scout was just about to be blown into bits, when the RED team's own Pyro airblasted the rocket, reflecting it back at the Soldier and blasting him into bits. The Pyro then proceeded to set the BLU Demoman and Medic on fire.

"Screaming Eagles!" The RED Soldier yelled as he hit the BLU Medic in the head, finishing him off. The Demoman was left with no choice to retreat, while he was still on fire, leaving him open to a shot in the back from the Pyro.

"Thanks, Pyro." The Scout slapped him on the back. "If it weren't for ya, I'd probably be bits and pieces on the ground right now."

"Hmmhm-Mmph!" was what they Pyro could only reply.

"Scout!" The Soldier shouted, marching straight up to him. "That's the second time you almost got killed! You've got to _pay attention_!"

Scout just rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah… quit being so demanding. It ain't exactly easy when we don't have Spy."

With the RED Team being down a member, this particular mission was all the more difficult now that they were outnumbered. The Spy should have returned along with their newly recruited teammate in time for their mission, but for unknown reasons something had held him up. So now instead of having the upper hand, the REDs were at a disadvantage.

The Scout, Soldier, and Pyro continued to fight off as many BLUs as possible until another reinforcement came.

Just as they hoped, the RED Demoman arrived; firing red stickybombs around the entrance to the first control point. "They'll never see it comin'." he muttered, then took a swig from his bottle of scrumpy. As a number of BLUs made their way to the control point, preparing to shoot down the seemingly unaware Demoman, the Demoman's one eye stared straight at the Heavy. Unintimidated, they charged straight in before Demoman detonated the bombs, sending pieces of the BLUs everywhere.

Cackling, the Demoman knelt down at the head of a BLU Heavy. "It's goin' ta take a lotta glue ta put you back together." As he reloaded his stickybomb launcher, he shouted to the other 3 REDs who were guarding the canyon. "Scout! Soldier! Guard the left entrance ta the tunnels! Don't let any of em' through! Pyro and I will guard the point."

"Got it!"

"Yessir!" The Soldier gave a mini-salute.

Demoman flashed an evil smile, his eye patch making the look even more threatening as he started to laugh.

The RED Pyro tilted his head. "Huh?"

•●•

Despite the REDs' best attempts at defense, a BLU Scout managed to make his way through the mining tunnel as he sprinted to the second control point. The BLUs hadn't captured the first one yet, but once they did the BLU Scout would be ready to quickly cap the next one.

As he made his way up some creaky stairs, he heard a giant foot stomp behind him. Turning around, the BLU Scout was met face-to-face with the RED Heavy Weapons Guy, holding his minigun.

"Run home to mama before I kill you, coward!" The Heavy bellowed. "You are no match for me!"

The Scout brought out his baseball bat and charged straight for the Heavy. Before he had time to even think, the Scout hit the Heavy's hand with his bat, causing him to drop his minigun down the flight of stairs.

"Nooo! Sasha!" Heavy wailed in agony for his minigun before turning to glare at the man that caused this atrocity.

"Ha! Not so tough without your precious 'Sasha,' are ya, lardfat?" the Scout laughed.

"You will pay for that, leetle man!" The Heavy drove his fist into the Scout, knocking him against the wall.

Picking up "Sasha," the Heavy pointed the minigun at the Scout, who was now trapped in a corner. "You have nowhere to hide."

The BLU Scout gritted his teeth, his back against the wall.

Heavy revved up his minigun and let out a battle cry.

"EEEYAAAAAAH!"

•●•

The second control point didn't appear to be well guarded, as the area seemed abandoned. The only thing that could be heard was the beeping of a lone sentry gun. Next to the sentry gun was the RED Engineer, sitting in a lawn chair as he waited for the BLUs to make an attempt to capture the next point.

_**ATTENTION! FIVE MINUTES LEFT IN THE MISSION!**_

"Dang, even without Spy, we're holdin' up pretty well." Engineer said to himself.

The RED Medic ran past him before stopping and turning to the tunnels.

"Somethin' the matter, Doc?" the Engineer asked him.

"Shhhh!" The Medic brought his finger to his mouth. "Do you hear zat? Zat… beeping noise?" He pointed to the tunnel entrance.

"You mean mah sentry gun?"

"No, not zat! Zis is… different." Medic whispered, for no particular reason since they were the only two around the area.

The Engineer listened closely for anything out of the ordinary. The only things he could hear were the whirring of his machines, and the only beeping noise he could hear was his sentry gun. He shrugged. "Nope! Don't hear anythin' strange."

The Medic put his hand behind his ear. From the tunnels, he could hear the faint echo of the Heavy yelling, "MEE-DIIIC!"

He gasped. "Ach! It's ze Heavy! He's been hurt! Ve can't lose him now!" Medic brought out his medi-gun and ran in the tunnels. Just about everybody except for Engineer was getting in the action while he was forced to stay behind and guard the second control point. So far, no BLUs had made any attempt to attack him or cap the point, although they wouldn't be able to before they captured the first control point. Even if they tried, the Engineer's sentry gun would shoot them down before they could make their way to the point.

He slumped back into his chair. A minute or two passed.

_**DING!**_

_**THE ENEMY HAS RECEIVED ADDITIONAL TIME!**_

The BLUs has managed to capture the first control point. Standing up, the Engineer kicked his chair away and brought out his shotgun. Things were going to get interesting.

•●•

Meanwhile in the tunnels, the Medic looked around, avoiding a BLU or two as he found the RED Heavy sprawled on the ground with a small puddle of blood. There was a giant red gash on his side. Fortunately the Heavy's chest was heaving, so he was still alive.

"Not much… time left… Doctor…" The Heavy gasped.

The Medic flipped his medi-gun on and pointed it at the Heavy. A red beam flowed into him, his wound closing as the Heavy slowly stood up. He sighed in relief. "Thank you, Doctor."

"Vat happened to you?" Medic asked.

"I was killing Scout… when a Spy came from behind me. He got my side and I fell." The Heavy patted his now-healed wound.

"A Spy?!" The Medic started looking around nervously. "Is he still around?"

Heavy shook his head. "No, he left when he saw me fall. He thought I was dead. Anyway," he picked up his minigun. "It's team time, Doctor! Follow me!" Heavy shouted, returning to his usual loud self.

Medic nodded. "Jawohl. We've got a point to defend."

•●•

Back at the second point, the Engineer watched as several BLUs tried to take the control point, only to get shot down by his sentry. The Engineer just shook his head at the BLUs.

Suddenly, his sentry gun started to malfunction. A sapper was placed on top of it as abnormal sparks were flying out of the sentry gun. "Wha-? A Spy!" he gasped in surprise. The Engineer knelt down to repair his machine, frantically hitting his wrench against the sapper in order to knock it off. If he couldn't get this thing fixed in time, it could cost the RED team the mission.

Fortunately the REDs guarding the first control point arrived in time to defend the second. The Soldier bounded through the air with his skilled rocket jumps as the Pyro set several BLUs ablaze, leaving some for Scout to pick off. Near the control point, the Demoman set up a new stickybomb trap then launched some grenades at the BLU team.

Finally, the RED Engineer knocked the sapper off his sentry. As he was repairing the damage, a BLU Spy appeared out of nowhere behind the Engineer. Raising his knife, the Spy prepared to backstab Engineer while he was completely oblivious to the attack. Before he could plunge the knife into the mechanic's body, he turned around to see the Spy, with knife in hand. The Engineer grabbed his wrench as he was about to hit the Spy.

**BANG!**

Blood oozed from the BLU Spy's head as he collapsed on the ground, dead.

"What in the-?" Engineer muttered as he tried to scratch his head under his hardhat. Looking around, he found the Sniper on the roof of the RED spawn point, waving at him.

The Engineer waved back. "Thanks, Sniper! Nice Shot!" _I've got to pay more attention… _he thought to himself.

He looked through the scope of his rifle and fired another headshot at an enemy Soldier, while mid-air from a rocket jump. A BLU Sniper tried to take aim at the Engineer, but the Australian noticed and sniped the enemy first before they got time to shoot.

"Hmph… Next time Truckie, pay better attention." The RED Sniper muttered.

As the RED Scout ran around, shooting down any BLU too slow to see him with his scattergun, he noticed a Heavy and Medic combo making their way through the tunnels when he heard the Medic declare, "I am fully charged!"

Scout looked around. The RED Heavy and Medic were on a roof, mowing down a couple of BLUs. If they weren't in the mining shafts…

"Uh-oh. This ain't good." He said with a hint of panic in his voice. He dashed back to the control point. "Guys! They've gotta charge ready!"

The Soldier pumped his shotgun. "Get ready, boys!"

They fired some shots until a BLU Medic healing a Heavy emerged from the mining tunnels. Any shot fired at the Heavy was quickly healed off and no one, not even Sniper, could get a clear shot of the Medic. In these cases, the RED Spy would easily pick off the Medic.

Sniper got down from his regular perch. "Bloody hell! The Spy's not doing his job!" he griped, trying to snipe the enemy Medic.

"Dummkopf!" The RED Medic yelled. "Did you forget already? Ze Spy _isn't here_!"

Shuffling around from drinking too much, the Demoman looked confused. "Wh-what? Spy's not here? Well where'd he go?" he said, forgetting that the Spy wasn't with them this mission.

"Ugh!" The Medic pressed his hand to his head in frustration.

The BLU Heavy and Medic got closer to the point, the Heavy firing his minigun at everyone. The REDs started dropping like flies. They didn't even need the übercharge to take the point.

Still standing, the RED Heavy along with the Medic stood in between the point and their BLU counterparts. But before Heavy could take down the enemy Medic, he activated his übercharge and soon after they fell too.

As the RED Team respawned, they could hear the BLUs capturing the point and the Administrator shouting _**YOU FAILED! **_as an audience booed at them through the intercom.

They had lost.

•●•

That afternoon at the RED base, the 8 mercenaries sat around, brooding over their recent loss. Even though they were outnumbered, they had still managed to put up a fight with the BLU Team. But it didn't change the fact that they failed the mission.

"Well men, we failed." The Soldier grumbled. "I take full responsibility."

"Whaddaya talking about?" Scout retorted. "It wasn't your fault at all!"

The Pyro muttered something muffled from his mask that the team couldn't understand.

"If the Spy were here… things woulda' been different." Engineer said.

Everyone nodded in agreement.

From behind them, a man cleared his throat. "Gentlemen?" Turning around, the team stared in shock as they saw the RED Spy stand before them.

The Sniper stepped forward, scowling. "Where were ya,' you bloody spook? You're absence cost us the mission!"

Unsurprised by the Sniper's outburst, the Spy just shrugged and shook his head. "Yes, I know I was supposed to be back by the time the mission started. For that, I apologize. But there were some… complications… with recruiting our new team member."

"New… team member?" The Heavy said, looking toward the Spy.

The mention of a new teammate shook everyone out of their depressed state of mind.

"Well, did ya get one?" The Scout asked.

"I did… but then he got shot in the chest and was sent to the hospital. He is unable to join us."

"Oh…" the Demoman quietly uttered. Everyone's head dropped.

Spy held his hands up. "Now, I didn't say I didn't bring back another team member, I only meant that one specific person. For I indeed managed to recruit a new member to the team."

The REDs stood up. "Well, where is this 'new team member?'" Soldier asked.

"They're waiting outside." The Spy gestured to the overhead door. "Would you like to meet our newest recruit?"

"Yes!" They all shouted with enthusiasm.

The Spy pressed a button on the wall and the door started to move. The RED Team watched in anticipation as the door slowly revealed the figure of their teammate. They didn't really know what to expect. Would he be strong? Would he be fast? Would he be any good?

When the overhead door stopped, the RED team's eyes widened. A short, petite, young woman stepped forward. She was dressed in a red shirt underneath a maroon breastplate that appeared to be leather and dark colored trousers with black combat boots. She wore a thick black sash tied around her waist and a thinner one draped from her shoulder that carried some sort of darts. Around her wrists were strange straps that were holding more darts. Her long dark hair was tied in a ponytail.

They couldn't believe it. Their new teammate wasn't a _he_, but a _she_.

She smirked at them. "Greetings, _equipo._ It seems you are in need of my help."

* * *

**How will the RED Team react to their new recruit? Find out in Chapter 4! Coming to a computer near you... sometime... when I work on the Chapter... and when I have a class name for her set in stone... Hmmm...**

**Feel free to leave a Review!**


	4. A Tense Welcome

**Yeaaah... I'm not too proud about this chapter. You're probably gonna go "Huh?" while reading it... multiple times. The characters might be off, and then I ran into trouble with the ending and my mind just went completely blank. Sorry folks, I tried. =(**

**Anyway, as for a class name, I just had to go with what I've always called her from the beginning- the Afflicter. Why? I don't know. Probably because she afflicts enemies with poison (and other methods of physical distress, but I'll get to that later). Hopefully the name's alright, it's what I've always known her by and I couldn't think of anything better. **

**So, a few things happen in this chapter. Well, actually... you'll have to find out.**

**Also the perspective changes to the Scout near the end of the chapter, just a heads up.**

**Enjoy! **

* * *

The room was quiet as 9 pairs of eyes (Technically 8 and a half, since the Demoman only had one eye) stared in bewilderment at the young woman standing before them.

Nobody said a word until Soldier slapped the Spy on the back. "Ha! Good one, Frenchie. I didn't know you had a sense of humor."

He started to laugh, the Heavy and Demoman joined in. The Sniper and Medic just shook their heads at the new recruit. The Engineer watched the Pyro piled together a bunch of old, worn-out, and extremely flammable things. The Scout just stared.

"So…" Heavy said. "Where is new team member?"

"You're looking at her." She replied, looking up at the Heavy.

He stared straight into her eyes, scowling. "Ha. Funny." He pushed her back.

The Spy cut in before any sort of fight could break out. "Do not underestimate her. She's actually more deadly than she appears."

"Well, why don't ya tell us about her then?" The Engineer spoke out, sitting in one of the benches. "I'm listenin'."

The Spy cleared his throat. "Anyway," he began, "she's a professional bullfighter from Spain, so she's incredibly quick and acrobatic. She knows how to fight and can shoot a gun with upmost precision. But her most dangerous skill…"

The woman grabbed a dart from her sash and started spinning it between her fingers.

Spy continued. "…is her poison darts. They do not seem like much, but if any of that stuff gets into your bloodstream, you'll be dead in seconds."

The Medic and Engineer eyed her curiously.

"Gentlemen, I give to you… The Afflicter!"

The pile Pyro put together burst into flames. Everyone stepped back a bit in shock from the sudden fire. When the fire died down a bit, they all turned back to the Afflicter.

"Oh my god…" the Scout whispered. "She's… gorgeous…"

Her eyes narrowed at him.

She faced the team. "The Spy filled me in on everything. He told me about our missions, our objectives, and what I'll be doing. He even told me about all of you. For example," she pointed to the Engineer. "You're the Engineer. I hear you have some interesting machines. I'd like to see them sometime."

The Engineer was taken aback. "Aw well, thank ya." He twiddled his thumbs. "I'd be happy to show them to ya."

Afflicter hid a smile, and then started to walk around, naming them off one by one. "You're the Soldier… Heavy Weapons Guy, or just Heavy for short… Demoman, unless you're sober, stay away from me." She eyed him suspiciously. The Demoman just shrugged, a little puzzled.

"Sniper… Medic, don't you have a gun that can heal almost any wound?" The Medic nodded.

She clasped her hands together. "_¡Fascinante!_"

"Danke, Fräulein." The Afflicter nodded, appearing to understand a bit of German before continuing.

"Pyro, who seems to like fire _too _much… and Scout." She stopped and glared at him before disdainfully saying his name. The Scout didn't seem to notice and kept looking at her with a love struck look in his eye. "I look forward to fighting with you all."

A moment passed.

"So… where is new team member?" The Heavy repeated.

"Still not convinced, I see _señor._" Afflicter put her hands on her hips. "After everything the Spy said, you don't think I'm up to the job?"

Heavy grunted. "You're just leetle baby. You can't do anything."

"Baby?" she raised her eyebrow. "Well then, how about a demonstration? Have you seen a baby do this before?"

In a matter of seconds, she fired several short jabs at the Heavy's arms, shoulders, and elbows. He balled his fists, shaking them uncontrollably. Then his arms went slack and he howled in pain. "MY ARMS! I CANNOT MOVE THEM!"

Some of the REDs gasped. She faced them all.

"_Now_, do you think I'm not qualified? If you don't, you might end up like your friend _Señor Grande._" She pointed to the Heavy, curled up on the floor.

Sniper stepped forward, not intimidated by her threat. "Look girly, you had your fun. But there's obviously been some mistake."

The Afflicter tilted her head up. "Hmph! Is there now?"

"Yes, there is." The Sniper looked down on her. "We were expecting someone who could _actually fight_. In case you don't know, we have another mission coming up in 3 days, and we're not going to let some dart-slinging petunia get in our way."

"Is that so? I'll have you know I got things confirmed with the higher powers. If you don't believe me, then maybe you'll believe _them_." She smirked, turning to the rest of the RED Team.

Her voice was dangerously threatening. "Like it or not, I'm your new teammate. Would you rather have me as an ally, or an enemy? Because I don't think you want to know."

Crossing her arms, she turned her back and walked away.

The Scout sighed. "Yep… she's a knockout."

•●•

Mealtime for the RED Team was usually very lively at the dining hall, bustling with conversations and laughter at mediocre jokes as everyone sat together. Not today, however. With the arrival of the Afflicter, the air was tense. She sat at a separate table with the Spy and Engineer while the rest sat together in their own group. The Engineer brought some blueprints of his inventions to show to her. He pointed to something interesting, and her eyes would briefly light up or she would nod in agreement as she took bites out of the casserole on her plate. The Afflicter was so intrigued that she didn't notice the Scout strutting up and taking a seat at the table, scooting right next to her.

He casually wrapped his arm around her. "Hey there, hot stuff. How ya doin'?"

Startled, her eyes widened for a split second before she sighed in exasperation. "Oh great. It's you."

The Scout flashed a smile. "'Dat's right, it's me. Y'know, ya really showed the big guy who's the boss."

Afflicter rolled her eyes. "Yes, I know. You don't have to tell me." She tried to push his arm off, but he just wrapped it around her again. The Spy and Engineer just watched, wondering what would happen.

"So, you're the Afflicter, right? Mind if I call ya Flicks?" Scout beamed as if he were some sort of genius.

"Ugh, whatever." She groaned. "Weren't you listening to anything Spy was saying?"

"Nah, I was too busy lookin' at how beautiful you were." His smile turned seductive and he brought his face closer to hers. Panicked, Afflicter tried to push him away, but he wouldn't budge. Instead she grabbed Scout's arm and twisted it into an awkward position.

"Aaagh!" Scout flinched. She then used her foot to push him off the table as he landed on his rear.

"A word of advice when you're hitting on girls you just met, _muchacho_: DON'T!" she spat at him. The Afflicter looked up and noticed that everyone was staring at her, both in amazement and fear. Slowly, the Scout got up, bringing his hands up in surrender. He walked back to the other table, as if nothing ever happened.

Everyone returned to what they were doing. Afflicter poked at her food with an embarrassed look on her face. She no longer paid much attention to what the Engineer was showing her.

Realizing that he didn't have an attentive audience anymore, Engineer noticed she was staring off into space, looking a little glum.

"Somethin' wrong?"

"What?" The Afflicter came to her senses, and then shook her head. "No, I just… lost my appetite. This casserole tastes weird." She pushed her plate away from her and left the table.

•●•

"I hope you know that during missions you're supposed to attack the BLUs, not your own team, no matter how much they get under your skin." The Spy warned her as they walked down the hallway.

Afflicter sighed. "I know. Things will be different when I step on the battlefield." She thought back to her little scuffles between the Heavy and Scout. She didn't need to make any new enemies, especially on her own team. Although, she didn't know if the Scout would even consider her anything other than a pretty face.

The Afflicter had to admit, the Scout's personality was rather… colorful, unlike another certain admirer. Then again, at least Enrique knew the meaning of the word, 'personal space.'

"I don't understand. He hasn't known me for even an hour yet, and he's already making it known that he… likes me." She made a face.

"The Scout? He acts that way anytime he sees a pretty girl. He does it all the time with Miss Pauling." Spy said.

"Miss Pauling?" She couldn't recall where she had heard that name. Then she remembered that when she first arrived in the Badlands, a young woman had been there to greet her. Miss Pauling was rather surprised when she discovered that Afflicter was a girl. But at least she was friendly to her, unlike some of the other mercenaries. Thinking about it, Miss Pauling definitely seemed like the kind of woman the Scout would hit on.

"So, not only is he a terrible flirt, but he's also desperate?"

The Spy chuckled. "Well, I guess when you put it that way."

A small, yet genuine smile appeared on the Afflicter's face, which she then tried to hide with her hand. Ever since she had accepted the mercenary job, the Spy had noticed she had been acting… strange. Usually, she was more upbeat and cheerful than how she was acting now.

He led the Afflicter to a door. "This is where you'll be staying, at least for now, anyway. For some missions, we're too far from the main base, so we relocate there until another mission that's closer. But most of the time, we stay here."

She nodded. Opening the door, she walked into a small, single-person dorm room. It wasn't too run-down, aside from a few cracks in the walls and window. To the right of a small closet was an ordinary desk with a red-cushioned chair. A simple nightstand stood right next to a bed, covered in bland bed sheets. If she ever got the chance, she might spruce it up a bit. Afflicter saw that her things had been placed on the bed, most likely by Miss Pauling. She also noticed the case holding her revolver was still missing. Spy had to take it so it could be 'approved for use' by Mann Co., according to him. For now she was told to use one of the stock revolvers.

"By the way," the Spy pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to her. "Show that to the Medic sometime before the day of the mission. He'll know what it means. For now, we have free time until dinner. You can go anywhere you'd like, maybe even see the Medic, just as long as you don't go past the boundaries. I'll see you then." He closed the door.

"Wait!" The Afflicter quickly re-opened the door and looked down the hall. But the Spy was already gone. "You didn't tell me where the Medic is…"

Her shoulders slumped and she sighed. "Agh! _¡Muy Bueno!"_ she said sarcastically. "Now I have to spend my time wandering around like a headless chicken."

•●•

Fortunately, the Afflicter didn't look like a headless chicken. But it still didn't change the fact that she was lost. Looking around the hallway, she accidentally bumped into the Demoman, who was with the Soldier.

"'Ey! Watch where yer goin', ya little-" his eye widened when he realized it was the Afflicter. "Oh, it's just the lass. I'm sorry! I wasn't payin' any attention! P-please don't hurt me like what ya did with Heavy."

The Soldier jumped in. "That's right, Demoman! Isn't she soooo scary and threatening?" he started to laugh. "As if she'd really be our new teammate!"

Demoman glanced at the Soldier, letting out a few half-heart laughs. "Good one, mate…" he glanced back at the Afflicter, his one eye begging for mercy. So her little fight with the Heavy had scared at least the Demoman.

She gave him a serious look. "I wasn't going to hurt you anyway, Demoman."

"Oh, ya weren't?" he scratched the back of his neck. "Well, alright then. So watcha' doing here?"

The Soldier pointed at her. "Yeah! What do you think you're doing? You're not supposed to be here!"

Demoman waved him off. "Don't listen ta him. He's just upset his new comrade's a girl."

Her eyes narrowed, partially glaring at the Soldier. "I could tell. But anyway…" she showed the Demoman the paper. "_Señor_ Spy told me to give this to the Medic. Do you know where he is?"

Soldier crossed his arms. "Ha! Like he'd ever tell you that! Well, I bet-"

"End of the hall, take the stairs down to the infirmary. He's probably in there." Demo said, pointing behind him.

The Afflicter nodded. "_Gracias, señor_." She headed off on her way.

"Demoman, you traitor! You do not reveal information to the _enemy_!" Soldier shouted, whacking him in the head. He turned to Afflicter, her back turned to him. "And don't think you've won the battle just yet, she-maggot!" He raised his fist in the air. "You'll be wallowing in pain when I'm through with you in tomorrow's training!"

Afflicter just kept walking. "We'll see about that…" she muttered smugly.

When she was gone, the Demoman spoke out. "Y'know, I don't see what yer makin' such a big deal out of. She isn't _that_ bad."

"Don't you argue with me now! You never send a boy to fight a man's war, but a girl's even worse!"

•●•

From the waiting room, the Afflicter could hear a maniacal laughter echoing behind the doors to the infirmary. She shuddered, and was about to turn around and wait until later when she finally decided to toughen up. Taking a deep breath, she knocked on the door.

"Come in!" the voice of the Medic sang as she stepped inside. Afflicter couldn't believe what she saw. Strange machines, some splattered with blood, surrounded a single exam table. Near the ceiling, she noticed several doves flying around; she lost count of how many there were after 6. She could only imagine how many dove droppings they left. The smell of blood lingered in the air. _When was the last time this place was cleaned?_ She thought. A gun-like thing (which she assumed was the medi-gun she heard about) hung from an attachment connected to the ceiling. At his desk sat the Medic, who was looking over some papers that appeared to be x-rays. Why he was laughing at someone's broken bones, she didn't know.

"Umm… excuse me? _Médico?_" the Afflicter said nervously.

The Medic wheeled around, facing her. "Ah! Hello, fräulein!" he stood up. "It's nice to see you!" Taking her hand with both of his, he started shaking it with enthusiasm. "Now, vat can I do for you?"

First he's cackling like insane, now he's acting friendly? She pushed the thought out of her head and handed him the paper. "I was told to give this to you."

"I see…" He skimmed over the paper, muttering to himself and adjusting his glasses every so often. "Ah, yes! Of course! You need a heart transplant!"

"Right…! Wait, WHAT!?"

The Medic's mouth curled into a sinister smile. "Oh, don't worry, fräulein. It's not as bad as you think." He pushed her onto the exam table. A giant light above her turned on.

"I think I'm perfectly fine with the heart I have right now!" Afflicter retorted. The Medic began to get his tools together. "Hold on, are you doing this _right now_?" she clutched her chest.

He shrugged. "Vell, why not?"

"Aren't major procedures like this usually… scheduled? Can't this be done tomorrow, when I'm more prepared?" the Afflicter asked.

"Ze sooner, ze better, wouldn't you say?" Medic grinned.

"Oh no…" she moaned. The Medic didn't seem to notice.

Taking his medi-gun, he flicked it on and pointed it at her from a distance. Red particles floated onto her body and she felt a faint, odd, yet comforting sensation. Then the Medic grabbed a saw. "Ze first part of the procedure is usually ze most painful. You'll feel some…" his expression turned iffy. "eh… minor discomfort." He sliced into Afflicter's body and even her clothes.

At the sight of her own blood, she winced and turned away. The pain was so intense, she started to struggle.

"Stop moving!" Medic said. "Hold still, fräulein. It vill only make things harder."

The Afflicter could only let out a groan. Everything went numb and her vision turned fuzzy, feeling light headed. She felt something land on her head. It was a dove, with blood splotches on its pure white body.

"Wha-? No! Shoo!" she waved her hand. The dove flew off.

"Zat's Archimedes." Medic said, still cutting into her flesh. "He likes to pester ze patients." Finally, he put the saw away. "Zere! First part is done." He stared at her internal organs for a moment, and then frowned. "Well… zis isn't good."

"H-huh?" she managed to say.

"It's just vell, you're so… small. I don't think a mega baboon heart will be able to fit in you, and I barely managed to get it to fit in Scout." The Medic tried to explain.

"A mega… what now?"

He closed his eyes to think. "Hmmm… vat to do?" he muttered, making his way to a refrigerator. "Maybe ze loch ness hamster heart vill work…"

"Did you say… loch ness hamster?"

"Yes." Medic nodded. "They're quite hard to find, and even harder to kill and salvage its heart!" He started to laugh crazily. "I'm sure it vill work…" Taking a heart out from the fridge, the Medic jammed a strange device into it. Holding it in front of the medi-gun, the heart beat rapidly. The Medic laughed maniacally again as the heart slowly changed color.

"Wha…what kind of doctor are you?!" the Afflicter wailed as he continued to laugh in front of her.

Immediately, Medic stopped laughing and looked at her. "Well technically speaking, I'm not actually a doctor. I lost my medical license a while back!"

She looked at him funny. "What?!"

"Vell, would you look at zat? The heart's ready!" The Medic exclaimed. The heart had changed from its normal pinkish color to a pure, blood red.

"Wait…" Afflicter mumbled, trying to come to her senses. "Not only are you giving me the heart of a _hamster_, but you also stuck something else into it?"

"Loch Ness Hamster." Medic corrected her. "And yes, with zis device, you vill be able to respawn, I can heal you with my medi-gun and also activate ze übercharge on you."

"It can do what?" she asked, still out of it.

"I'll explain when we're finished." He picked up a knife. "Now say good-bye to your old heart, fräulein. You won't be needing it anymore!" He cut the Afflicter's heart out and she yelped in pain. Throwing her heart away, the Medic replaced it with the new one. Finally, he pointed the medi-gun straight at her and let it do the rest. Afflicter watched as her large incision rapidly mended itself, even her clothes too.

"Zere we go, fräulein. The procedure is complete!"

She lay there for a moment. She didn't feel any different than she had before the surgery, aside from a slight uncomfortable chest pain. From what the Afflicter could tell, she was just fine… hopefully. Glancing at a clock on the wall, she noticed that half an hour had passed. It had taken the Medic only 30 minutes to perform a heart transplant.

She sat up. "So… not only can your medi-gun heal giant flesh wounds, but it can also repair clothing as well?"

The Medic was cleaning his tools as he turned to her. "Yes. I don't exactly know why it does that though… But as you said before, it can heal just about anything. Although, there are some things it can't."

"Like what?" she asked.

"Well, it can't fix Demoman's lost eye, most likely because it's cursed."

"A cursed… eyeball?" despite the confused look on her face, the Afflicter shivered.

The Medic laughed. "But zat's only a rumor!" Then his face turned serious. "The medi-gun also can't bring people back to life. Once they're dead, there's nothing I can do about it."

She nodded. It would make a lot of sense. To have a machine that could bring someone back from the dead, something like that would be inconceivable.

"Can it heal poison?" she asked.

Medic paused for a moment. "You know… I have no idea. I've never had a situation like that. I'll have to find out sometime."

Afflicter grabbed her wrist. She didn't want to know what would happen if the Medic got his hands on her poison darts.

"Anyway, zat device on your new heart lets me use the medi-gun on you, and it vill let you respawn or in other words I guess… save you from dying."

She was puzzled. "So even if I die out there in battle, I don't actually die?"

The Medic shrugged. "You just end up back at the RED base. It's a mystery. No one really knows how it works. Now then if you'll excuse me, I have some… business to attend to." His sinister laugh came back.

"R-right." Afflicter stuttered. "I'll just be going then…" She cautiously walked out the room.

•●•

Dinnertime was pretty much the same as with lunch. The Engineer and Pyro had teamed up to make steak for the RED mercenaries, although the Pyro had overcooked it a bit. But at least it was still edible. The Scout stared at the Afflicter, unaware of the dopey grin he had on his face. He didn't make another attempt to hit on her. Scout wouldn't admit it, but he was a little worried that she would just kick him off the table again. Beautiful _and_ tough, she was his type of woman. And she was definitely going to be his.

He watched as she talked to the Spy for a bit, then the Medic asked her about something before he left. The Soldier made some slicing motions at his throat directed at her, but she didn't seem to pay any attention to it. Finally after finishing her steak, she got up and started to head back to her room. Now was his chance. He started to follow her.

"Yo Flicks, wait up!"

Afflicter turned around to see the Scout running to catch up to her. "What do you want?" she sighed before walking faster in an attempt to get him off her back.

Scout kept up right with her. "Geez, I just wanted to talk for a bit."

Her expression was hard. "Really, now…?"

He nodded. "Yeah, dat's all. I promise, I'm not gonna try and make a move on ya. I think I learned my lesson."

"Hmph, you'd better have." She muttered.

Scout just ignored her comment. He wasn't actually telling the full truth. He was just taking a different approach. "So as ya probably knew, we're startin' training sessions tomorrow. And I'm just gonna tell ya right now, you ain't ever gonna see a bunch of men fight as well as we do. You'll be impressed." He gave a confident smile.

Afflicter's expression turned smug. "You mean the whole team, or just you?"

"What?!" she had seen right through his little scheme to show off to her. The Afflicter seemed to take delight in the look of shock he had on his face. He wouldn't have that. "Oh, a smart alec are ya? Well, I'll have you know I'm da fastest guy on the team. None of those other slowpokes can even keep up with me!"

"I'll bet your wits don't match your quick feet…"

Scout beamed, totally missing her insult. "You bet they do- Hey!" Afflicter snickered. She was definitely not making this easy for him. But he wasn't going to give up yet. "Not funny. I'd like to see ya do better tomorrow."

Afflicter smirked. "I'm sure I will, and you won't like it."

Her comments were starting to get on his nerves. The Scout almost lost it. "I've had about enough with your clever comments!" Then he thought of something. "But ya know what…? I forgive you. Ya don't have to act all tough in front of me." He winked at her.

Her face turned red as she clenched her fists. "What? Why you…!" She was about to throw a punch at the Scout when he grabbed her wrist.

He managed to turn the tables on her. He smiled. "Ya know you're cute when you get flustered."

Afflicter gave him a steely glare as she struggled to get him to let go of her wrist. Finally she just shook her head and smirked. "So maybe fighting with you isn't going to get you off my back. But I still have more smarts than you, and I've got many tricks up my sleeve." She calmly slipped her wrist out of his hand and went inside her room.

Now Scout was stunned. "Don't think you can shake me off that easily! No matter what ya do, I'm not giving up yet!"

"I think we're done here." She slammed her door.

"Aw, come on!" Scout stomped his foot. One way or another, he _was_ going to win the Afflicter's affections.

* * *

**That ending... I really couldn't think of anything. It all just left me. And I'm not even sure what I'm going to do with the next chapter.**

**As for the Loch Ness Hamster heart, I don't really know if it would work with the medigun, but let's just say it does.**

**I really don't know what else to add other than this chapter is probably going to bring me embarrassment in the future... and that I don't wanna go back to school.  
**

**Go ahead and review this chapter if you'd like. **


	5. Training

**Wow, it's been a while. Most of the time, I was either at school, working on other chapters that I have more of an idea on, or something else entirely. But after weeks, here's chapter 5, where we see how the mercenaries (or at least some of them) train... well, what I kinda think. I'm also trying to get the character's personalities right, especially for the Afflicter.**

**And it all begins with a not-so-clever joke that I thought was a little funny at the time...**

**Enjoy! **

* * *

_Dawn of the Second Day- 48 Hours until Mission_

The sound of a bugle horn blared through the hallways as the mercs were rudely awakened at 7:00 a.m. The RED Soldier loved doing this for whatever reason; he was always eager to start training, probably because he could sometimes yell at the mercs like the drill sergeant he wished he could be. Fortunately, the rest of the team was used to his antics. All except the Afflicter, however, who had only arrived the day before. So when the Soldier barged into her room and blew the horn right in her ear as loud as he could, she let out a startled shriek.

"Eek! How did you get in here?!"

The Soldier pointed at her and laughed. "Ha! I didn't think you would scream like that! If only the rest of the team could see the look on your face!"

The Afflicter glared at him, not amused with his little practical joke. "Yes… what a shame." She was about to kick him in the stomach, but the Soldier grabbed her ankle and yanked her out of bed.

He grinned. "Is that all you've got, maggot? You fight like a girl! You're going to have to do much better than that in today's training."

The Afflicter gritted her teeth. "Oh believe me, I _will_."

While the Engineer was stepping out of his room, already in uniform, he heard the Soldier scream in agonizing pain a few rooms down. "What in tarnation…?" he said to himself. The Texan turned around to see Soldier being thrown out the room as the door slammed shut. He helped the Soldier up off the floor. "What happened?" Engineer asked him.

"I don't wanna talk about it." The Soldier grumbled as he stomped away, leaving a confused Engineer behind to wonder what had happened.

A few minutes later the Afflicter, dressed and ready for the day, opened the door to see the Spy standing in front of her, his arms crossed as he was tapping his foot. "What did you do this time?"

"Well, the Soldier thought it would be a good idea to invade my privacy and blow a trumpet in my ear, so I kicked him in the gro-"

The Spy cut her off. "Alright! I get the picture. I did not need to know that_…_" He sighed. "I thought we talked about this yesterday…"

"_Lo siento, Señor Tío._" The Afflicter said, wincing after using the nickname she promised she wouldn't use. "But, what else was I supposed to do?"

"_Sacrebleu…_" Spy muttered. "You're just lucky he didn't snap your neck. The Soldier does that sometimes."

"_Ay, es muy loco._" She said, realizing the Soldier was not going to make her first day of training easy.

Spy nodded. "I know what you mean."

They walked to the dining hall together.

•●•

Everyone noticed that the Soldier was in a grumpy mood that morning. When he was waiting in line getting his eggs, he started yelling at the Pyro because he had taken the rest of the bacon.

"Maggot! You do not take all the bacon for yourself! I haven't even gotten any for myself yet! Drop down and give me 50!"

The Pyro mumbled some nonsense, but the Soldier whacked him in the head with a shovel. It was a good thing that the Pyro wore a mask, or else he would've gotten a concussion at best. The rest of the mercs watched in horror as the Soldier and Pyro got into a scuffle.

"Do a lot of fights break out over bacon?" The Afflicter whispered to the Engineer.

He shook his head. "Nah, it's normally over the hash browns. Speaking of which, why are you putting hot sauce on yours? We do have ketchup, y'know."

"It's fine. I like my food with a bit of a spicy kick." She replied as she mixed it in with her hash browns.

"Yeah, but that's like, extra-extra hot sauce." The Scout said, with a hint of a smile. "None of us can handle how hot it is. I mean, the first time I tried dat stuff, I couldn't feel my tongue for the resta' the day."

"And your point?" The Afflicter's mouth was full of food.

"_Mon Dieu!_" The Spy shouted. The rest gasped as she ate her hash browns, not seeming at all bothered by how hot it was. And she put more than a little on her food. When she was finished, she looked at them curiously. "Honestly, that wasn't nearly as hot as you made it sound. I'm a little disappointed."

"What? You mean it wasn't even a little spicy?" Engineer asked.

"Well, I guess it was somewhat. But I've always been able to handle even the spiciest of foods." The Afflicter said.

"Maybe it's 'cause you're Mexican." The Scout remarked.

Afflicter leaned forward and over the table, scowling at the Scout. "I am not Mexican, you _tonto_. I'm Spanish."

"So? Is there even a difference?"

"Of course there's a difference!" she shouted louder than she meant. Calming down after her burst of anger, the Afflicter smirked. "I can name off a bunch of differences."

Scout rolled his eyes. "Fine, whatever."

_**ATTENTION! TRAINING BEGINS IN 30 MINUTES!**_

Everyone's attention turned to the Alarm-o-Tron 5000 as the voice from the speakers was giving the mercenaries instructions on what to do. When it was finished, everyone got out of their seats and started to leave. The Afflicter, however, was a little lost on what to do. Luckily, the Spy stayed behind for her sake, so he could show her where it was she needed to go.

"Did you bring those darts of yours?"

She nodded, grabbing one of the holsters on her wrist. "_Sí_."

The Spy gestured for her to follow him. "Come with me." He led her outside the RED Base as they walked to a resupply area leading to the training grounds. The hot New Mexico Sun blazed in the sky, even though it wasn't even 8:00 yet. Underneath the Afflicter's uniform was a unitard, which wasn't exactly suitable for the warm weather but it was for her own good. If she accidentally misfired a dart and it punctured her skin, it would be embarrassing beyond measure. Then again, the Spy was wearing both a suit and a ski mask, which weren't very fitting either. She hoped she would be able to put up with the heat.

Neither of them said a word until they reached the overhead door to a large building when the Afflicter spoke up. "So, what exactly do we do in training?"

The Spy looked at her like she asked a stupid question. "It's as the name implies, we train for the next mission, hone our skills on the battlefield, that sort of thing. You could compare it to a sports team practice, or in your case, bullfighting practice."

Her eyes narrowed. "Yes, but what do we _do_?"

"We work on team strategies and cooperation. But most of the time we have individual training, which depends on what you do for the team. Sniper isn't usually in the line of fire, so he does target practice most of the time. But someone such as the Soldier, Heavy, or Scout, they're almost always in the heat of battle, so they have to make sure they're prepared. As for me…" the Spy straightened his tie. "…I have to utilize stealth in my line of work, so my training consists of makeshift infiltration and ambushing enemies. Since this is your first day, you'll mostly be showing what you're capable of doing. After that, your training schedule will be a little more consistent."

Double doors opened to reveal the other 8 mercenaries waiting for the training to start. Heavy was polishing his minigun, the Engineer was tinkering with some machines, and the Demoman was gulping down a bottle of alcohol. The Spy led her to a cabinet with nothing inside it, save for a few things.

"These are the weapons you'll be using." He handed the Afflicter a revolver. It was black, with an ivory grip. "I don't expect your revolver to be getting back to you soon, so in the meantime you'll use one of the stock revolvers." She studied the firearm given to her. It felt comfortable in her hand, despite it being a little bigger than the one she liked to use. It would do for now, at least.

"And these…" the Spy brought out two large, red and beige flamenco fans. "…are your melee weapons. It seems Mann Co. has a rather broad range of things to use as weapons, even those fans. Although, I probably would only use them for fighting if were you."

The Afflicter opened the fans to reveal that the leaves* were replaced with sharp metal blades that looked like they could cut through just about anything almost effortlessly. When she closed them, the blades folded with the fans with ease. _Whoever made these was a genius _the Afflicter thought to herself.

"There are also a few extra darts for you to use if you ever need more." Spy explained. "Once you get used to everything, there will be more weapons for you to choose from. But you'll start with those for now." She nodded in response.

"Hey, hey, hey, Flicks! Good ta see ya made it!"

Both the Spy and Afflicter turned around to see the Scout strutting up to her. She let out a frustrated sigh, but the Scout didn't seem to get to notice or was just ignoring it.

"I mean, I was worried you were gonna get lost. But don't worry, I could've shown ya around."

"I think I could have found my way _without _your help." The Afflicter said, hitting her right hand with one of her fans. There was a hard expression on her face and she didn't say a word.

"Ummm… what are ya doing?" Scout asked, pointing at the fan.

"I believe the Afflicter is using what they call in Spain, the secret fan language." The Spy, who had been listening to her and the Scout's conversation, answered.

Scout looked confused. "Well, no doubt it's a secret to me. I have no idea what it means."

The Afflicter quietly snickered. The Scout looked at the Spy. "So, what's she tryin' ta say?"

The Spy thought for a moment. "From what she's doing right now, I think it means she doesn't like you."

"What?" The Scout pouted, most likely jokingly. "Hey, come on. 'Dat's not nice."

The Afflicter opened the fan and held it over her left ear. "And now she wants you to leave her alone." Spy said.

Scout groaned. "Fine, training's about to start anyway." He walked away, but not without flashing a smile at the Afflicter, which she pretended not to notice. When he was out of her sight, she put the fans away.

"He ain't easy to get rid of, ain't he?" The Engineer said to her.

"No, he's not."

The Engineer chuckled. "You'll get used to it over time. So, ready for yer first day of trainin'?" He nudged her in the shoulder.

She crossed her arms. "It shouldn't be difficult."

"Confident, are ya? Well, good luck. You're probably gonna need it.

•●•

After a few more minutes of waiting, some overhead doors opened and the 10 mercenaries walked inside the large training area, filled with boxes. There was a long, high chain link fence blocking most of the room but on the far end were 2 more overhead doors. The Soldier walked up to the fence, took a key hanging on one of the links, and unlocked the gate. He faced the rest of the team. "Listen up here, maggots! We've got individual training for today's schedule, thanks to our 'new recruit.'" He eyed the Afflicter. "But first, we're going to start with a little warm-up. Now get on the ground and give me 30!"

The others all groaned as they reluctantly got on the floor and started doing pushups. The Soldier just watched them all, chastising them for not trying hard enough or telling them to go faster.

"Why aren't you doing pushups too?" The Afflicter said in between gasps for breath as she was on her 15th pushup. Most of the mercs were already finished with theirs.

The Soldier, ignoring her question, knelt down toward her. "You know cupcake, if this is too hard for you, you can just do lady pushups like the weak lady you are!" he laughed.

"That's what you think." She panted as she finally finished all 30 of her pushups. If it weren't for the Soldier yelling in her face, it would've been much easier for her.

Soldier gave his next command. "Next, you're going to run 10 laps around this room! Get to it, maggots!"

Running was no problem for the Afflicter. Although the Scout was at the front of the pack the whole 10 laps, she was able to tail behind him most of the time, but he never looked behind to notice. She guessed the Scout was too confident in his speed to the point that he would never imagine any of the others catching up to him.

"Faster maggots! Faster!" Soldier shouted, whipping some of the mercenaries near the end of the pack. The Afflicter glanced behind to see the Soldier running up to whip her, but she jumped away before he could hit her. He tried several other times, but she dodged every single one, frustrating the Solider.

"I really don't understand why he makes us do this…" The Afflicter said to the Medic as they were running.

"Ze Soldier usually gets zis way when he's in a bad mood." Medic replied. "Ve're just humoring him by complying. And it's much better than when he makes us do zis outdoors."

The Afflicter paled. The Soldier _was_ doing this because of her. But it didn't matter. She was going to show the team that she was no pushover.

The Soldier chuckled to himself. "Not half bad, now you're going t-"

"Aw, forget it! We've had enough of this!" Sniper interrupted. The team grabbed their weapons and went to start the real training, leaving the Soldier behind.

"What the- Hey! Is that how you worms treat your commander? Your sergeant?" He yelled at the mercs.

"You're not anyone's bloody commander, Soldier!" Sniper yelled back.

The Soldier made no effort to catch up with the rest of them, dragging his rocket launcher as he grumbled to himself about how those maggots would never understand the meaning of real training.

•●•

"This room here is for general combat training, but these other two doors have different training purposes." The Spy explained to the Afflicter. "The one on the left is a shooting range and the one on the right is an obstacle course."

The Scout, Soldier, and Pyro were heading to the obstacle course while the Sniper, Engineer, and Heavy went to the shooting range. The Demoman and Medic decided to stick with general combat.

"So, which do you want to try first?" Spy asked.

The Afflicter thought for a while. She'd probably get into a fight with the Sniper if she went to the shooting range after how much disdain he'd shown toward her the day before. But she was also fed up with the Soldier's antics and knew that the Scout would pester her too. General combat was her best option, and she wouldn't have to be around anyone who greatly annoyed her.

"I think I'll just stay here." She told the Spy.

He nodded. "Good choice."

The Demoman was up first. The Afflicter, Medic, and Spy watched behind the fence since the Demoman's weapons were much more dangerous than others.

"Vhen I press zis button," the Medic explained. "Cutouts of the BLU team vill pop up from the ground and ze goal is to try and hit them all. Demoman vill demonstrate."

He pushed a large red button and a buzzer noised. Several wooden cutouts depicting members of the BLU team came up with targets on the head area and body. The Demoman blasted them into pieces with his grenade launcher and hit a few with an empty bottle of alcohol. He even set off some stickybombs, blasting up to 6 cutouts at once. Overtime, the booth surrounding the Demoman was lowered, allowing him to move around freely and hit more targets. Even after how much he had been drinking before the training had started, he was still able to hit the majority of them. The cutouts the Demoman wasn't able to hit slid back into the holes they came from after too much time had passed.

After a few minutes, the buzzer noised again and the Demoman's stance relaxed.

"Excellent work!" The Medic praised. "You got 24 out of 30!"

Demoman looked back and grinned. "Thanks mate!"

"Now it's your turn." The Spy said to the Afflicter.

She stepped into the booth. But just before the Medic pressed the button, the Soldier marched out the obstacle course room, looking proud of himself.

"Soldier!" Medic shouted. "Get out of ze way! The Afflicter is starting ze drill!"

"What are you so worried about?" The Soldier yelled over the buzzer. A Soldier cutout popped up and he leaned next to it. "It's not like she can aim at me or the targets even if she tried." His cutout friend was soon shot in the head as it broke apart, causing the Soldier to yelp in surprise. The Afflicter held a revolver.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I was actually aiming for you, but I wasn't really trying." She said sarcastically, shooting close to his feet.

"Grrr… HIT THE TARGET, MAGGOT, NOT ME!" Soldier angrily shouted.

"Then get out of the way!" she shouted back as she hit another target. The Soldier scurried behind the fence as the Afflicter's drill continued. She launched a dart at a far row Sniper cutout, which broke apart surprisingly easy. A Scout cutout popped up and the Afflicter threw a dart at its midsection, but it didn't break apart. Then she shot it in the head (which was most likely what she intended). The booth lowered and she leapt out, pulling out her fans and slashing nearby cutouts into two pieces. Another cutout immediately popped up behind one she cut apart. The moment the Afflicter saw it, she quickly back flipped and launched a dart at it. She moved swiftly as she hit the cutouts, almost as if it were a bullfight. But her maneuvers also had a sense of elegance, like if she were dancing, which looked even more similar when she was using the fans.

"I haven't seen fighting movements like _that_ before." The Demoman remarked.

"That's because they're not directly from fighting." Spy explained.

"What are they from, then?"

"They're from a combination of dances. She would use movements like these ever since she started bullfighting."

"Hah! So she _does _fight like a girl, then!" Soldier declared.

"Yes, but it's unique and unpredictable."

The buzzer noised and the drill ended. The Afflicter panted and blew a strand of hair out of her face.

"Hm, vell what do you know? A perfect score! And on her first try!" The Medic sounded pleased and impressed.

"Bloody 'ell, she's good…" Demoman was amazed.

The Soldier shook his head in disbelief. "Hmph, if you ask me, I think she just got lucky."

The Afflicter walked up to the Soldier. Her expression was hard, but she was smirking. "And you said I couldn't aim. I wasn't even trying that hard. Do you think this is anything new for me?"

The Soldier opened his mouth to speak, but she whirled around and headed off to the obstacle course.

•●•

Having finished the obstacle course, the Pyro was leaving the room, not paying much attention to the Afflicter or anything else. The overhead door revealed not the room, but a staircase leading downward. Heading down, the Afflicter noticed this room was much larger than the general training area. When she stepped inside, she saw the Scout getting ready to start the drill himself. Fortunately, he didn't seem to notice her enter as she went to watch him behind another chain-link fence.

"So, do you want to try to be the Scout's best time?"

Afflicter turned to see that the Spy had followed her. "Perhaps." She studied the Scout quizzically. There was no doubt that he was the fastest mercenary on the team, even before she showed up. The Afflicter had no interest in the Scout whatsoever, but she did want to know how he fought and whether if he was just all talk or not.

Once the Scout was ready, he turned to the Afflicter, smiling as he winked at her. He was aware she was watching him.

"Ugh…" The Afflicter rolled her eyes.

Scout pointed upward, showing off to his audience and pressed a button, starting a timer. The booth lowered and the Scout darted off. A cutout popped up, but he immediately shot it down with his scattergun. Another cutout appeared on his right, which the Scout also shot down.

"Quick reflexes, I see." Afflicter said to herself.

The Scout brought out his pistol when he saw a gun-like machine. When he ran into its line of fire, it started shooting tennis balls, but Scout dodged every single one as he completely destroyed it with his pistol.

The Afflicter heard the voice of the Engineer next to her. "I really wish people wouldn't annihilate that thing." He sighed.

"You made that?" she asked him.

"Yeah, it's a makeshift sentry gun. We use it for practice, so it only shoots tennis balls.

Their attention turned back to the Scout, who veered to his left, shooting apart any cutouts that stood in his path. There were a few he hit that weren't directly in front of him and a bit further away. He switched to a baseball bat and started whacking apart more that popped up. The Afflicter assumed either the Scout was much stronger than he looked, or the cutouts were made out of really weak wooden logs. There was a Sniper cutout standing on a high stack of boxes a long distance away from the Scout that should have been hard for him to see. But he brought out a baseball, tossed it in the air and swung the bat, launching the ball and breaking apart the cutout.

Her eyes widened. "¿_Él usa pelotas de béisbol a luchar_?"

"Surprisingly, it works." Spy responded, the only one who could understand the Afflicter's Spanish. The Engineer just stared at them, confused.

The Scout leapt onto some stacks of boxes. It seemed as though he wouldn't make the third jump, but he pushed himself while in midair, allowing him to reach it as if there was no thought that he couldn't make that jump. This had the Afflicter stunned. There was no way she could jump as high as he could. Another stack of boxes was a few yards away, but with the Scout's impressive jumping abilities, he was able to clear it with no problem. He jumped off the crates, shooting a cutout below him as he sprinted through the rest of the course, almost finished with the drill. The Scout reached the end, pushed a button that stopped the clock, and checked his time. He had managed to clear the course in less than 2 minutes.

Scout pumped his fist triumphantly. "Woo-hoo! New record!" He ran back behind the fence, spreading his arms out toward the Afflicter. "Hey, how was 'dat, Flicks? Pretty impressive, huh?"

She looked bored and unimpressed. "I really wasn't paying much attention, to be honest."

The Scout grinned. "Suuure you weren't. I saw ya watching me da whole time. Admit it; you're impressed with me and my new best time. I just broke da record!"

"Only 'cause ya cheated!" The Engineer spoke up.

"Whaddaya mean I cheated?"

Engie shook his head. "Don't play dumb with me, boy. We all saw how you took that shortcut. You gotta follow the whole path, or else it doesn't count!"

"Yeah, don't think I don't know the rules. The only things I hafta do are shoot all the targets and reach the end. I did both of those, so it counts." Scout countered.

The Engineer gasped. "I think you might be right…"

"Of course I'm right." Scout boasted. "I beat the record, and Flicks thinks I'm awesome."

"No, I don't." The Afflicter said as she stepped into the course.

"Think you can beat my record, huh?"

"Maybe not." She admitted. "But I know I can beat mine." If the Afflicter wasn't able to take a shortcut the same way the Scout did, there was no way she could beat his time. The only thing to focus on for the moment was her self-improvement.

•●•

_Dawn of the Final Day- 24 Hours until Mission_

Smoke wafted through the air in the dimly lit control room. A woman sat in front of a large control panel, tapping her foot impatiently as she held a cigarette in her hand. The door creaked open and another younger woman dressed in purple walked inside.

"You… wanted to see me, Administrator?"

"Miss Pauling…" the Administrator wheeled around, facing her. She had an expression that seemed to be a mix of anger, disappointment, and slight concern. "Explain _this _to me." She pointed to one of the monitors behind her. On the screen was a youthful, Hispanic-looking woman training with some other mercs. A bit later in the video, she spotted the hidden camera and tilted her head as she stared at it like she was looking at them. "Who is she?"

"That's the Afflicter." Miss Pauling explained. "She's the newest mercenary for the RED Team."

"What!?" The Administrator crushed the cigarette she was holding. "_I _did not authorize _anything _about hiring new mercenaries!"

Miss Pauling looked down nervously. "I know, it does explain the RED Spy's recent absence. My guess is that Redmond must have given them permission."

"_Neither_ of those old fools have any idea what they're talking about…" The Administrator shook her head. "As for the girl, she must be killed."

"B-but, isn't that too harsh? Why not just send her away?"

"She knows too much, Miss Pauling." She turned to the screen. "From what I've seen of this girl, she's too clever, too… defiant, nothing like those other men that were hired. She already knows of our existence, and she'll likely find out even more."

"But, Administrator! Don't you have any idea who she is?"

The Administrator pounded her fist on the arm of the chair. "I don't care who she is! I want her gone!"

"Then maybe you should take a look at this." Miss Pauling handed the Administrator a file filled with papers. "They're information on the Afflicter." She snatched them out of Miss Pauling's hands and looked over them searchingly.

"Elena Carmencita Belasco Ramirez…**" The Administrator quietly said to herself. "Hold on a moment…" Her eyes widened. "_Ramirez_! Miss Pauling, you don't mean…"

"That Ramirez? Yes, she's part of that very same family. Or 'clan' as some people like to call it." Miss Pauling shifted uncomfortably. "But it's hard to believe…"

"Impossible. After all these years, _she _managed…" The Administrator set the papers down. "I was told she had simply… disappeared."

"She looks a lot like her, don't you think?"

"I do see some resemblance in her." They watched the Afflicter fight with speed and grace on the training replay. "It seems she has inherited some of _her_ skills, although this 'Afflicter' is much more aggressive than she could ever be."

"So, are you going to follow through with that plan? To kill her?" Miss Pauling asked.

The Administrator shook her head with a sinister smile on her face. "Perhaps not. We'll just have to keep a closer eye on her than with the others, for now…"

* * *

**So, I got to thinking, "I should probably include Spanish translations." So I included Spanish translations. Here:**

**"_Lo siento" - "_I'm sorry"**

**"_es muy loco._****" - "(He) is very crazy"**

**"_tonto" _- "fool, idiot, moron, etc." **

_**"¿**__Él usa pelotas de béisbol a luchar_?" - "**He uses baseballs to fight?"**

**There were also some asterisks, which meant I was going to explain something in regards to the word or sentence at the end of the chapter, which is right here:**

*** - I actually went and looked up the parts of a folding fan. In this case, the leaves are the top part.**

**** - According to Spanish tradition (which is really some article I looked up on the internet, but it sounded believable), the maiden name of the mother goes after the father's last name, not before as I put it. So it should really be Ramirez Belasco instead of Belasco Ramirez. But I liked Belasco Ramirez more, so I wrote it that way (it's also how Elena wrote it in the paperwork). "Carmencita" is considered Elena's second, or middle name. Just something I thought I'd bring up.**

**Next Chapter, we have the somewhat anticipated mission...**

**Leaving reviews will make me a happy person. **


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